By Rosemary Onuoha and Cynthia Alo

The Tier Based Minimum Solvency Capital, TBMSC, recently announced by the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, is breeding apprehension among insurance consumers in the country.

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Consequently, many consumers, especially corporate, are besieging their brokers to find out the status of their insurance companies, probably to switch if necessary.

Disclosing this to journalists in Lagos, President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB, Mr. Shola Tinubu, said that NAICOM needs to act fast in categorizing the companies because clients are mounting a lot of pressure on brokers to do so.

Tinubu said, “NAICOM did not disclose the TBMSC in secret, rather it announced it to the world. Immediately, clients are beginning to besiege us with questions. They ask us all manner of questions such as: what is the TBMSC about?  Which tier is my insurer in? I hope my insurer is okay?

“So in this type of situation the broker cannot fold his hands and watch. Immediately, we have to start acting and responding or else the role of the broker will suffer and there will be lack of confidence in the broker. The customer could go elsewhere for that support.”

Tinubu said that customers could begin to dictate which tier they would want to do business with adding, “The customer could ask, ‘which tier does my company fall into?’ If you say, ‘tier three’, they could say, ‘I don’t want it.’ So immediately, the market will begin to respond.”

Tinubu said that all insurance companies should begin to address the issues as quickly as possible, adding, “Any insurance company worth its salt should immediately begin to address the issue. It is in the interest of the companies to address it as soon as possible. Where would customers want to buy a third party policy from? They will want to buy it from where they will get the best security and that will be from the top tiers.”